Euro crisis

The two men in Brussels could hardly be any more different: The spirited Mexican Angel Gurria, secretary general of the OECD, and the dry EU commissioner for economic and financial affairs, Olli Rehn from Finland. Yet their message was the same: Europe can not simply assume that the crisis is over. Reform efforts must continue, Rehn urged the member states. "Once we keep up recent decisive action, we will witness the turning of the tide in the coming months," he said.

Rehn's and Gurria's main focus, however, was the EU rescue fund. "When dealing with markets you must overshoot expectations," Gurria told a joint press conference with Rehn in Brussels. "The mother of all firewalls should be in place, strong enough, broad enough, deep enough, tall enough, just big," he said.

The 43-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an international body focussed on economic research and tracking industrialized economies to promote growth.

Germany remains hesitant
Gurria's warning that it was less about how much money was in the fund but rather about whether the markets would have confidence in it, was most likely directed at Germany. Berlin is not only contributing by far the largest chunk of the rescue fund, but Germany also was the strongest opponent to beefing up the fund beyond the initial plan of 500 billion euros.

Only this Monday, the German government finally gave in to the possibility of increasing the fund to 700 billion. But for Gurria, even this is too little. For him, it's got to be at least one trillion euros to calm the markets. EU finance ministers are to agree on the actual size of the fund at a weekend meeting starting on Friday.

The Mexican OECD chief had still more suggestions up his sleeve for the EU. He pointed to the EU's domestic market as he warned that there still was too much untapped potential and that many of the possibilities only existed on paper so far.

OECD figures indicate that only three percent of Europeans work outside their home country; only five percent come from outside of the EU to work in the bloc. The key factor of mobility was not capitalized on as much as it could be, the OECD warned.

Europecan do it on its own

Gurria said that, across the board, the EU could and should make more of its opportunities. The bloc wouldn't even need the International Monetary Fund to contribute to the bailouts for Greece, Ireland and Portugal, but had all the means and instruments to deal with the crisis itself, Gurria said. The only question was how to implement those instruments the right way.

The European Central Bank (ECB), for instance, is increasingly involved in buying up state bonds and by doing so has so far succeeded in calming jittery markets. At the same time, the new ECB policy bears great risks, and Berlin in particular remains unconvinced by the strategy.

But as Germany steps on the brakes, Gurria is calling for the EU to hit the gas. Whether it's the rescue fund or the role of the ECB - the latest press conference by the OECD chief has certainly stepped up the pressure on Berlin.

Author: Christoph Hasselbach / ai
Editor: Nancy Isenson